Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

Listening to Natasha's words, Adam had to gaze at the painting once again, his mind wandering to the contents of her statement.

The Black Death— Bubonic plague. It was one of the deadliest events in all of humanity's history.

It wouldn't be wrong to call it an apocalypse and indeed it had also been labeled as one by multiple people throughout the centuries. Even if we were to base it on the scale of different apocalypses that Medusa had informed her back then, this event wouldn't fall short of anything but a civilization destruction event.

Starting around the 14th century…

From the Year 1346 to approximately 1353, the plague spread faster than anything before it had ever shown to spread, killing nearly 200 million people and erasing nearly 50% of the European population in its entirety. Most likely, the death count was far higher than what was recorded and estimated by the experts.

This was a cataclysmic class event and Adam had once again learned just why the supernatural was separated so strictly from the normal world.

The ramifications of not separating these two worlds became more and more clear to him as the days went by and his knowledge grew about this dirty and ruthless world.

"Considering how they were hunted down, just how did the witches get so strong for them to be able to cause such an event? More importantly though— just how were they even stopped if they were able to cause such catastrophic damages to the populace and the world in itself?"

Adam had no doubts that the witches, warlocks, and any beings of a similar category were extremely powerful beings in their own right. Even so, this cataclysm was just a bit too much. He felt like there was an outside hand, looming in the dark that helped them achieve this apocalyptic situation.

"This was an event where humanity was at its most dangerous state regarding the probability of extinction. The whole scene was primarily caused because the great witches had made a staggering amount of sacrifices for their goal and unleashed forces that they just couldn't control, or even hope to control for that matter… Beelzebub the Lord of the Flies and the Prince of Gluttony of Hell."

"Oh…"

"Adam… I will say this now… Last time, we were very, very lucky to have stopped Asmodeus' descent into this world of ours. The bubonic plague is a staunch reminder of what generally happens when a prince of hell is unleashed onto this world and no one is present to stop them. The longer they stay, the more power they can bring forth from hell until finally, they destroy the whole world in its entirety."

Adam nodded his head in understanding. He had seen at first glance what happened when Lucifer nearly descended to this world and he wanted none of that.

This was different from the weak avatar that Asmodeus had barely managed to send over to this world back during the Pacific Park incident.

"Anyway, back then Beelzebub was at his strongest point and would have been severely dangerous for all of humanity had he remained in this world long enough. The witches were constantly fuelling Beelzebub, ready to sacrifice it all for the sake of their revenge, and the human hunters were being pushed back without much chance of winning against that monster. But then, Beelzebub lost…"

Adam was confused. It seemed like Beelzebub was at his peak back then and had all the cards in his hands to clinch the decisive victory. Why would he—?

'Ah…'

"You told me that the First Murderer fought Beelzebub centuries ago, right? Were you talking about this incident then?" [1]

Natasha smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgment,

"The First Murderer fought and destroyed a great part of Beelzebub's authority as they fought in the vestiges of hell itself, making his avatar weaker on Earth which allowed final victory for the humans."

Adam was flummoxed by this sudden piece of info. He had only heard negative things about his father Cain and his other siblings all this time, no matter who he had asked.n..O1n

The First Murderer.

The first fratricide.

A man who killed his brother out of jealousy and lust for his very own sister.

A man cursed by God Himself.

The enemy of the whole world.

The most wanted man in the entirety of humanity and creation itself.

There were just way too many negative titles attached to his father's name for anyone to think of him as a good guy. But then…

"Why would he do something like that?"

"We don't know. Honestly, many are speculating that this was just a huge coincidence. Others speculate that he, in fact, used the situation where Beelzebub was mainly focused on Earth to attack him and steal a part of his powers for himself. In the end, no one really knows the truth because no one is able to ask him in person."

Adam chuckled, "True that…"

After she finished her explanation, Natasha blushed ever so slightly, flustered at the way she had rambled on just then, "Sorry. This is a date and here I am boring you with my stories."

"Heh, nah. This isn't boring at all. I understand now why I never managed to beat you in the school rankings. You are really a nerd, aren't you?"

Natasha wasn't the undisputed number one student for nothing it seemed.

"Also, I learned many interesting things thanks to you."

It was hard to say whether Cain saved humanity or if attacking Beelzebub was his plan all along and he just used humanity to reach his goals.

Either way, for Adam who only had seen the negative side of his family… For the first time, he was opened to another truth about his skewed family.

The truth that he knew nothing but hearsay.

The truth of the matter was that… his knowledge was erroneous and far too lacking for him to judge them.

His opinion about his father did not change in the least. But now— his mind was a little more open to other possibilities.

"Why don't you share more of your wisdom with me, madame?"

He gave a theatrical bow as he spoke in a glorifying tone, goading her to share more of her knowledge with him.

Ignorance was bliss and knowledge was power.

Rather than staying blissfully unaware of the truths he may not want to know…

He liked the alternative of having power far more. Power in the basis of knowledge…

"Heh, Follow me young one. Teach you, I shall."

The two of them chortled as they continued their visit.

They would attract the eyes of everyone present but the aura the two of them emanated made people only admire them from afar.

Some people would even take their phones out to take pictures but Adam would simply fry their phones or erase the pictures altogether using his powers.

It was pretty easy for him to do so without missing even a word that was leaking out of Natasha's lips. He did not have four minds just for show, after all.

At the end of the day, both Natasha and Adam were nerds of the highest degree. They enjoyed learning and teaching and there was not one dull moment between them.

Always laughing, always smiling, a little touch here. A little glance there.

It was a simple date and a monotonous tone to boot. But the two of them just enjoyed being in each other's presence.

There was nothing more important than the time and memories they shared with each other for the two.

In such fashion, a few hours passed by in a jiffy, but they were far from being tired thanks to their supernatural stamina.

Of course, there was no way Adam would just stop here.

Looking at the time, he took Natasha and started to make his way out of the museum.

It was time for the next part of their Date.

"So, Where do we go next?"

As the two of them took place in the car, Natasha gazed at the distant sky above.

They had gone for the date a little before noon and by now she could see that the sun was well on its way to going beyond the horizon, leading to the advent of the night.

'Time really flies by fast when you are having fun.'

Today, for the first time in a long, long while, she was able to enjoy herself without worrying about anything else.

She didn't know if what she felt for Adam could be called love. Certainly, there was still much she didn't know about Adam.

But at the very least, spending time with him made her happy and at ease. She felt like she was always surrounded by a warm embrace and protected from all the worldly pains that would haunt her when she was not with him.

'I am depending a little too much on him.'

She smiled wistfully and listened as he told her about their next destination for the date.

"Though we didn't do much, we still walked quite a bit, don't you think? So now, it's time for us to feast to our hearts' content and partake in a divine meal that will satiate our hunger."

Natasha chuckled ever so slightly at his words. The current Adam was goofy but she also found this side of him to be cute and endearing. She was also having fun and as such played along with him once again

"Ohhh. A man after my heart. I must warn you… My palate is very delicate. Will you be able to satisfy my cravings?"

"Fear not fair lady, for I shall make you taste heaven."

—And so the two of them drove toward a restaurant.

But it wouldn't be just any restaurant. Adam had searched through all the high-end restaurants but still, they fell short of his expectations.

That was until he realized that he didn't need to focus on only normal restaurants per se.

This was where Yui came into play as she had various connections on the supernatural side and knew the chef of one of the greatest restaurants that specialized in food for hunters and supernatural beings.

The chef and owner of the restaurant was a retired Executor and as such, his restaurant was considered a neutral ground and no guests were discriminated against based on their race.

However, clients still suffered from a different kind of discrimination altogether.

—They were discriminated against based on how thick their wallets were.

[1]: In case you forgot. This happened when they were discussing while floating in the sky. The exact point is 384 CH 369: CRYING

(AN: I decided to write relatively big chaps for the rest of the month. So one chapter a day and as an apology for the day I missed, next month all tiers will be 25% off. Obviously, this doesn't matter for the highest Tier since it's still 99% off. Thanks for your continued patronage during this month. In December to celebrate one one-year anniversary, I will go 99% off on all Tiers.)